Who you think I am
by Staying-anchored
Summary: Lucas is not one to make conversation, or friends for that matter. But Ness is determined to crack open Lucas' sullen facade & uncover such truths that might be more than he bargained for. Warnings: char. death / insanity episode / language


_The kid never talks. Ever. He just sits there and writes in his notebook, staring out the window. When the teacher calls on him he just shakes his head slightly. She stopped asking him to answer questions around October. He does group projects by himself and doesn't participate in any sports or school rallies. All he does is write. His head is bent low and his mechanical pencil loops across the page as it gets filled with graphite thoughts. I don't know what he writes about. I don't know anything about him. Except that's a lie. His name is Lucas. And I'm absolutely in love with the idea of him. _

It was already half-way through the school year before Ness finally crafted a plan to talk to Lucas, the boy who sat in front of him in his English class. During the thirty minutes set aside for silent reading He dropped his pencil and kicked it with his foot lightly. The pencil rolled beside Lucas' desk and bounced off the side of his shoe slightly. Unfortuanately Lucas was too busy writing to notice and ignored it.

'_Fuck_.' Ness thought, '_that's my only pencil too. I need it for class._' He waited patiently for a couple of minutes but Lucas never tore his eyes away from his notebook. In a moment of desperation Ness got out of his seat & crawled on his hands & knees to retrieve his pencil.

"Dude what the hell are you doing?" A voice called out & startled him, causing him to slam his head on the bottom of none other than Lucas' desk.

"I- uh, well ... This is my pencil and... Uh—"

"You literally could have asked me to pass it to you, what's your problem?" It occurred to Ness that he has never heard Lucas talk (much less to him). He had kind of a higher pitched voice for a teenage boy, but it had a bit of an edge to it. Probably because he was annoyed that some kid was messing around under his desk while he was trying to write.

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again." Ness went back to his desk embarrassed beyond belief. A couple of other students had watched the interaction silently. He could feel their eyes on him & it made his cheeks flush. He couldn't believe how stupid he was, coming up with a dumb idea to attract the blonde boy's attention. He literally could have just talked to him at any time, and introduced himself. It wasn't like Lucas strapped a sign onto his back saying 'don't talk to me'. He wasn't nessisarily the most approachable guy but he seemed polite enough to carry a conversation, of course he probably wouldn't want to talk to the guy who was on his hands and knees under his desk like some kind of dog. He literally wanted to bang his head on his desk repeatedly until his brain fell out his ear.

Class dragged on slowly, nothing the teacher said stuck in Ness' head. Instead he tried to think of ways to apologize to Lucas without making things even more awkward. When the first bell rang signaling the end of class he absent-mindedly gathered up his things and nearly walked past Lucas's desk before realizing there was a piece of paper folded once neatly on it. He picked it up and unfolded it. Written in neat handwriting were the words "why do you keep staring at me?"

"Are you kidding me?" Ness thought out loud. He marched down the hallway and up to Lucas who was at his locker. "Why do you think I stare at you? I was literally just getting my pencil!" Lucas calmly grabbed a book from his locker and slipped it into his backpack.

"I wasn't just talking about today. You stare at me all the time it distracts me."

"Do you think I'm obsessed with you or something? I'm not!" Ness realized he was getting worked up and making a fool of himself.

"Well you did pick up the piece of paper that was laying on my desk." Lucas responded calmly, closing his locker door and turning the lock. He then pivoted and walked down the hallway, leaving Ness speechless.

* * *

AN: I realize that crawling under someone's desk really isn't the end of the world but it's a headcanon of mine that Ness has really bad internal social anxiety & tries really hard to be outwardly social but trips up over the small things.

**also: **_this is the first story I've published on here that hasn't already been finished and given to my friend as a present, like the other story had been. I do have a plot mapped out in my head for this story but I will say as a disclaimer that my update will not be the frequent "chapter a day" as my first (already completed beforehand) story had been. Please be patient with me, although reminders are appreciated. It does take a great deal of time to produce a story, and a great deal more courage to display it for others. Any criticism/praise in review are appreciated, but please note that I do not take bluntness or rudeness to the heart, & I stand by my characters, no matter how twisted they may become_


End file.
